Despite a drop in figures, personal security remains as important as ever as fraudsters continue to target people's cards, PINs, passwords and financial details.
To coincide with the publication of the 2006 card fraud figures today, APACS, the UK payments association, has published a Personal Security Plan that details the best ways for consumers to minimise the chances of being a victim. The Personal Security Plan is available to download from www.cardwatch.org.uk
Mr Dunne said: "I urge everyone to remain vigilant about taking care of personal financial information. People need to take common sense precautions such as: looking after cards and PINs: checking that the website you're shopping on is secure; and following up on any missing post from your bank or utility company.
"If you are an innocent victim of fraud you will be refunded, but being a victim is never a pleasant experience. Your personal details are valuable to others - take care of important documents and treat all your paperwork and bills as confidential information."
Overall, total card fraud losses fell from £439.4 million in 2005 to £428 million in 2006. Fraud in the West Midlands decreased to £17.7 million from £20.3 million over the same time period.
The introduction of chip and PIN has made it more difficult for fraudsters to commit card fraud in the UK, with losses at UK retailers falling by £146.7m over the past two years. However, criminals are still targeting our cards with the aim of copying the magnetic stripe data. They use this data to create counterfeit magnetic stripe cards that can potentially be used in countries that haven't upgraded to chip and PIN. This has caused the increase in fraud abroad losses over the last 12 months.
Sandra Quinn, director of communications at APACS, says:
"These figures clearly show that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with fraud. Chip and PIN has had a hugely positive effect on fraud losses over the counter in UK shops and stores, but we are seeing more fraud on transactions that do not use chip and PIN - such as over the internet and phone, by mail order and abroad in countries that have not yet fully upgraded to chip and PIN.
"Fighting fraud is never going to succeed with a single-layered approach. It requires different sectors - including public and private - to work together on developing and implementing strategies, and sharing best practice to drive losses down further."
A number of measures are currently in place to tackle card-not-present and online fraud, such as an automated cardholder address verification and card security code system, and MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa (www.mastercard.com/uk/securecode and www.visaeurope.com/verified). APACS urges online shoppers to register with Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode whenever they are given the option of doing so. Cardholders simply need to register a private password with their card company for use when shopping online at participating retailers.
The banking industry is working on the next generation of fraud prevention solutions to help tackle fraud in non face-to-face transactions (i.e. e-banking and internet and telephone shopping). APACS is liaising with banks, card schemes, retailers, trade associations and systems vendors on the implementation of a trial of one such solution that builds upon chip and PIN technology and will enhance the online protection already offered by systems such as MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa.
On top of this, the payments industry continues to commit and invest funds in programmes and initiatives to fight fraud. Over the past five years, the industry has:
- Invested £1.1 billion in the rollout of chip and PIN
- Established the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU) - the special police unit that specifically tackles plastic card and cheque fraud - a funding commitment of £3m per year by the banking industry
- Promoted retailer take-up of the Industry Hot Card File (IHCF) - an electronic database that enables retailers to check whether a card is being used fraudulently. Over 430,000 cases of attempted fraud were prevented by this system in 2005. The system is now being used successfully at motorway tollbooths in France to combat the use of stolen UK cards at road tolls.
